Yolo County shuts down crowdfunded dinners in Davis

Davis site promotes homemade meals

Decentralizing the food system and bringing a sense of community back to neighborhoods is the goal at Foodnome.

Co-founders Akshay Prabhu and Caleb Bourg created a site for crowdfunded dinner parties, hosted in Davis. Events, however, halted since the two received a notice from the county, shutting them down.

“Just recently we got a notice from Yolo County’s health environmental agency and I’m not really sure what to do,” explained Prabhu, outside of Temple Coffee in Davis. “The way I see it, I feel like you’re less likely to get sick in smaller batches of food and people are really enjoying the experience; providing a way for people to make some extra money and bringing people together.”

Through Foodnome’s site that launched in November, users pay to attend an event. Chefs or hosts choose their price points, menu or agenda and keep any money earned from sign-ups. Not every event is a “sit down and eat” setup, Prabhu continued.

Previous sessions taught attendees how to cook with essential oils and another invited guests to knit and enjoy tea and cakes. Prahbu even taught a class himself, showing how to process an entire chicken.

“I have a chicken coup and we did a roasted chicken dinner after,” he added. “Not every Foodnome event is a sit down and eat setup. It’s things that people don’t normally get to do with people in their community.”

Since receiving the mid-February county notice, Prabhu and Bourg started hosting free dinners in an effort to continue showing off talents from local chefs. The two are working with 12 different cooks in Davis who serve “everything from Japanese tapas to homemade Indian curries,” he noted.

Prabhu, who works part-time at the UC Davis Medical Center, connects Foodnome chefs with local farms and suppliers to source ingredients for meals. Though anyone can sign up to host an event, only some are selected.

Using information from environmental health sites, Prahbu created guidelines and a vetting process for prospective chefs, such as requirements for refrigerator temperature and evaluating station or kitchen cleanliness. To prevent “buffet style” quantities of food, events are capped at about 13 guests.

“They send in an application, I look through it and see if it’s a fit for Foodnome,” he explained. “We meet in person and do a trial dinner with a few people. I want to make sure the food is good and they know what they’re doing.”

Though Prabhu’s educational background is in neuroscience, he calls Foodnome his passion and wants to pursue it full-time. The UC Davis graduate hopes to resolve county issues and bring people back to the “Foodnome table.”

“Generally the feedback I’ve gotten is really positive and we’re looking for people to help out in any way,” he said. “We’re trying to rally support. Suggestions people have or ways to make it better, we’re here to listen.”